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Take Two Loses Legal Battle for Control of 'Bioshock.com' Domain

Take Two Interactive has lost a legal tussle over the rights to the URL bioshock.com against the domain squatting company Name Administration Inc....

Take Two Interactive has lost a legal tussle over the rights to the URL bioshock.com against the domain squatting company Name Administration Inc. (NA Media), Gamer/Law reports.

According to the report [via GamesIndustry.biz], a World Intellectual Property Organisation legal panel overseeing the case felt that Take Two failed to prove NA Media had registered the website in bad faith. NA Media first registered the URL in 2004, prior to Take Two registering the name as a trademark, but after the game was "unofficially announced."

Adding to the decision was NA Media's assertion that, at the time of the domain's registration, Take Two Interactive had not held any association with the Irrational Games developed title. Take Two was formally revealed as the game's publisher in 2005.

NA Media argued that the term "bioshock" holds other uses separate from Take Two's video game license. Specifically, the company claimed that cosmetics giant Johnson & Johnson expressed interest in the domain for an unrelated skincare product lineup.

The domain "bioshock2.com" is currently suffering from a similar situation; albeit from a different squatting company. Take Two Interactive does own the rights to BioShockInfinite.com, the URL associated with the third game in the series.